The Calamity of the Sky
by Dark Memory
Summary: Chapter 3 up. After learning the secrets of the ShinRa Mansion, Hojo's documents tell of his goal of finding the last surviving Ancient.
1. Gift to the World

Prologue

_"Hojo, I have taught you everything I know. I need you to follow in my footsteps now more than ever. I have confidence in your ability to undertake this well-respected position in the corporation."_

_"Thank you sir; I will not put my years of studying under your guidance to waste. (I won't put your documentation on SOLDIER to waste either…hehehe…)"_

I am writing this journal entry reluctantly, as I am finally being fired from this god-forsaken company. I doubt they'll let me go this simply with the knowledge I possess; I anticipate being "taken care of" by the Turks sometime by the end of this week…the president will always have a grip on me.

I just want my legacy, the research of Professor Gast to stand the test of time as the most successful scientific endeavor. All I want is to be remembered for something good… "The one who single-handedly revealed the secrets of the Cetra to be skewed and prodded by the tools of the corporation. The one, who after many years of utter failure, discovered the Temple of the Ancients. The one who revolutionized the world, discovered Mako energy and the true origins of materia." Not as _"The man who handed Hojo the world on a silver platter!"_

The idea is preposterous, I know. I mock the fact that something like that could ever happen, yet that isn't enough to soothe my doubts of this man… There is something, for lack of a better word, _evil_ or two-faced about him… He has an odd thirst for power; a power that he would have every capability of achieving after my untimely demise.

Forty years of blasphemy, playing God with human lives, manipulating science into **"Magic."** Forty years of searching for, _and then hiding_, the meaning for my very existence. Yet I can finally leave this world proud of my life; because I have given birth to our savior—my first experimental success—number **One.**

I cannot leave this world regrets after the holy act of retribution I have given to this planet; they'll know the truth far too late, _oh they'll know_... No, I cannot hold any regrets whatsoever, so long as Hojo never discovers the existence of _my Sephiroth._


	2. The Realization of his Dream

The Realization of his Dream

"What's happened!? Is everyone okay!?" The guards stormed the room, marching passed the bodies as they pressed onwards to the staircase leading to the presidential office. "Sir! Are you alright Sir!?" There was no replyfor the men frombehind the door. A battery ram was brought up the stairs and used to force the double-doors open, which had unintentionally been barricaded by a desk; the president's desk, more than eight feet away from where it should have stood.

President Rufus lay dead in the far corner of the room. Young for his position, the boy had only been welcomed to office about two months ago. A face once full of life lay there, staring at the soldiers who had come too late. They rushed his body out of the office; the blistering cold seeping in through the gaping hole in the window. Minutes ago, the Rufus had waged war against WEAPON; now neither of them remained. The corporation was doomed without its president. Before this, the people of Midgar had been divided in either their support or hatred of ShinRa. After the collapse of Sector 7 the ratio shifted evenmore against them. And now what would they think, with Meteor mere hours away from impact?

They rested the president on the ground floor lobby; one of the only floors completely unaffected by the blast. As they lay his body down on one of the couches, a manila folder fell from his clutch, remarkably firm for that of a deceased man. The folder was marked "Classified." No one had ever seen this folder before. Many had the feeling that Rufus had never seen this folder before either. The folder was put away for protection. No one in the room had the clearance to even know of its _existence_, no less read it.

Upon further examination of the president's destroyed office, a small tape recorder was found. Maybe they would hear the president's final words; maybe before the president died, he had said who should be his successor! The recorder was played loudly for all to hear in the lobby. It jumped across many different recordings from various events in his office.

--"What do I care that he's dead? He didn't know how to properly take care of people. Money will only get you so far. Fear, my friend, is what controls."

--"And what of the party that attacked you?"

--"They may prove useful. That Cloud person….He has Mako infused eyes. Is he one of yours?"

--"Yes…a failure. Nothing like the original."

--"Still, I await to see what becomes of him. He may still surprise you Hojo.

The room was silent. No one knew what Hojo and the president were talking about, but it incited their anger to think about Hojo. That psycho had threatened everything atop the ShinRa building with his Mako Cannon. The tape sped forward, as the president spent the rest of his time with Hojo on the search for Sephiroth, The Promised Land, and the Huge Materia. Rufus and not returned from Junon for almost six months from the time that the recording was taken. But now, it had reached the present.

"Please, if you find this recorder, read the files in the folder that I will continue to hold until I am no longer able. These are the documents of our dear Hojo, the man who is, as we speak, on the roof of our corporate offices with the Mako cannon. Hojo is not the man I thought him to be. Likewise, he may just be the most insane person I have ever met, lusting for the power of a God. Please, you have the clearance. I want you all to read the files and know the truth about this company. It is especially important to me that all of our current members of SOLDIER know about their pasts and why they are so elite. I have been a wicked man, and I am so sorry. We are the cause of all this chaos; we are the cause of Sephiroth. And if there is any time left before Meteor hits, I want you all to know the disgusting truth. Please, I want you all to"… and then, the shattering of glass. And then, nothingness.


	3. Best Kept Secret

Best Kept Secret

The documents were opened quickly. If only the president had known sooner; Hojo's mission was suicide. He hadn't planned on everything the way they turned out, but rather led them to this culmination. The notes started from the very beginning; only a few days after the passing of Professor Gast.

"This building rejects me. There are things here that repel me, perhaps for my intentions. I need to know what happened here. Why would he keep something from me? Stupid old man, you knew I'd find out eventually."

The building referred to was the ShinRa Mansion. It was home to the secret laboratory of Gast; the company also decided to hold his funeral there. The building was one big cover-up, and everyone knew it. They didn't know what exactly was being hidden and by the time Rufus became president, all who knew the mansion's true secrets were long deceased. Only two people remaining knew the truth; professor Gast and another man, a former Turk who met his final resting place within the mansion, long taken care of.

"How curious! I found a little man in the basement…. Beyond a hidden staircase by the upstairs fireplace." Hojo walked the route to the cavern deep below the building. It led him to a treasure trove of the planet's secrets. There waiting for him was a desk surrounded by a small library of forbidden information.

The terms flooded Hojo's mind, from the Temple of the Ancients to Sephiroth. So much time had he spent in the Science Department away from the light of the outside world, he had let his teacher wander on these journeys of information that nobody knew of.

Sephiroth and Jenova… and the man who had tried to put a stop to this all, Vincent. He studied them all. He read the truth about all the rumors that had circulated past his office; of a top-rank Soldier just vanishing; of a senior Turk being fired for insubordination. This Vincent, he found out about Jenova and Sephiroth and tried to kill them both. He was found out and his former team had been ordered to punish him. The man still lived in the room next to this one, but why wake someone with that many demons? He can't possibly live much longer without decomposing!

Then he found it; documentation of extra-terrestrial life. He had hit the jackpot. It was one of the darkest secrets, all there before him in a twenty-four page biological report. JENOVA. A living being thousands of years old, found and imprisoned in the Nibel Mountains. Gast called it the Calamity of the Sky. He concluded that this being, returning to our planet, was the cause of the destruction of the ancient race, the blood-heirs to the planet. Hojo thought to himself what kind of weapon could be created from this alien.

He did not have to look hard to find the answer right in front of him. Who was Sephiroth? He was somehow linked to Jenova, but how? The realization hit him hard in the face. Gast _did_ create a weapon; the ultimate Soldier, the very first. Only one survived the experimentation. Only in this particular **host,** had the cells of Jenova mixed freely with the pure Mako energy infused within; a terrifying result.

The power to rule worlds; the power to destroy worlds. Hojo wanted this power, but before he could begin his search for Gast's weapon, he read about Ifalna. This woman was a survivor of the Ancients. If there was anyone that could provide him answers to the secrets of the planet, it was her.

The address was vague. Gast mentioned her living "somewhere on the northern continent." He was hiding her. The old president of ShinRa was willing to give Hojo all the resources he needed to pursue the Ancient, sure that it would hold the key to many riches; the Promised Land being the ultimate goal.

Icicle Town was empty, however. Videos of Ifalna and Gast could be found. Somewhere in time, the woman had fled the town. She would not be die so easily and must be hiding. Hojo decided that it was time to put the Turks to work. They would find the woman and hand her over to Hojo for interrogation; experimentation.


End file.
